Tourism boom in Fez results to over 400,000 night stays in first half of 2014

The spiritual capital of Morocco gets its glow and attracts more visitors as statistics in the first half of the year showed a 12% increase in overnight stays compared to the same period last year.

Tourism boom in Fez results to over 400,000 night stays in first half of 2014

Classified accommodation establishments in Fez realized at the end of June 2014 nearly 438,057 nights when this figure does not exceed 392.400 overnight stays a year earlier. The evolution of the number of tourists at the spiritual capital is primarily due to the increase in overnight stays by major source markets, including the Japanese market (61%), German (56%), Italian (42%), English (37%), American (30%) and Spanish (27%). Arrivals in classified hotels posted an increase of 14% from 185,794 to 212,196 in late June 2014; however the average length of stay remained unchanged placing in two days.

Four star and five star hotels and also the guest houses got the spotlight in hotel category. These institutions account for the majority of total overnight stays in the city of Fez. In the first half, their occupancy rate reached 38% against 35% recorded during the same period last year. In per room evaluation, the Regional delegation of tourism showed that 3,939 rooms have been operating in the spiritual capital. Five star graded hotels counted nearly 1,088 operating rooms, against 1,208 rooms for four-star hotels, 636 rooms in three- star hotels and 670 rooms in guest houses.

Fez knows a well-defined tourist route. A program contract, worth 8 billion dirham of investment, is developed on the implementation of 29 projects and additional bed capacity of 13,000 beds.

The Tourism vision of the city capitalizes on its cultural and historical heritage. These projects will, welcome additional 1.1 million tourists by 2020. Tourism revenues projection will be around 11.7 billion dirham. Tourism investment in the city of Fez also contributes to the creation of 45,000 additional jobs from currently 32,800 to over 78,000 in 2020.